HP Lounge // Star Wars… plus Years & Years EXCLUSIVE Interview

My weeks in the run up to Christmas are flying by faster than Luke Skywalker on a speeder bike! One day I’m here and the next I’m somewhere else in the country, so doing something nice and fun last week was much appreciated! I was kindly invited to the KOKO club in London with HP for an exciting Star Wars event… so off on my travels I went. I was going to be enjoying an evening to celebrate the launch of their new (and exclusive) Star Wars tech range, and of course to indulge in some music in their HP Lounge event with super cool band, Years & Years.

I couldn’t wait! Firstly I love Star Wars, secondly I’m a closet technology geek and thirdly I was going to be seeing Years & Years perform at the HP Lounge! However, in a last minute deal I was actually asked to interview the trio before hand… *gulp* so I rapidly popped down four questions that came to mind….

I arrived early to sneak in through the back door of Camden’s must-visit music venue. Already I could see a collection of Years & Years fans who were congregating outside the venue with the hope to get right to the front. For a split second I reflected on myself about 20 years ago quite possibly doing the same thing for some cheesy pop band *cough* 5ive *cough*

In I went soon to be greeted by the three guys that make up the band, Years & Years. Frontman and keyboard player Olly Alexander, keyboardist Emre Türkmen and bass guitarist Mikey Goldsworthy… who later told me he would be dressed as a Jedi for the duration of the performance! All members looked rather bright and cheery considering how much of a whirlwind their musical lives are at the moment. The boys don’t seemed to have stopped and I couldn’t wait to find out some more about them.

Hi guys, thanks for chatting to me today! I’ve got a few questions for you. What do you think the highlight of 2015 has been for the group?

Emre// I replaced my inkjet cartridge!
Olly// You have a printer?
Emre// I have two actually!
*Laughs*
Emre //But having the single go to number
Olly // There have been loads of highlights but having the single go to number one… and the album was definitely a highlight. Also I’d say performing at Glastonbury
Emre// The US Tour was cool
Annie// Where did you go?
Emre// we went everywhere!
Mikey// Yeah the US Tour was good we went loads of places… but not Seattle.
Olly// We went to loads of new places. I really liked Denver.

I saw you guys at Glastonbury which was awesome, but where do you think your favourite place to play has been this year?

*Discussion amongst band mates on what was the best*
Emre// Open air festival was pretty awesome.
Olly // I’d say open air or Glastonbury?
Annie // How was Glastonbury?
Mikey//It was really special to play there.

With the launch of the new HP Star Wars collaboration for the new film, what Star Wars character would you be and why?

Olly // Princess Lea because she is very fashion forward
Mikey// You’d be more of a Peppi
Olly// Oh I love Peppi!
Emre// I’d be R2D2
Mikey// No you’re more of a CP30!
Emre// No! You’re a cp30!
*Debating of who was CP30 went on…*
Emre// Maybe you could be chewy with that facial hair?!
Mikey// I’d be Lando
Emre// You wish!
Mikey// Lando is quite unique because he starts off as the bad guy but then becomes good.
Olly // Why is that you though?!
Mikey// I don’t know I’m just saying!
Emre/ I’m definitely R2D2 he has great apparatus
Mikey// There is just too many!
Emre// Everyone wants to say Bobba Fett but no one is!
Annie // No one is saying Jar Jar or Jabba?!
All// Laugh
Mikey// Oh I could be the little guy at Jabbas feet?

If you had to pick one colour, what would your light sabre be?

Emre// Turquoise (says it in the incorrect way)
Mikey// Why are you saying it like that?
Emre// Is that not how you say it?!
Mikey// It’s Turquoise!
Olly // I’d be pink
Mikey// I’d go yellow I think, in-between the colours
Olly / a baby blue one would be nice, but I’m going for pink
Mikey// Maybe dark blue? I just don’t know! I’m freaking out!
*Laughter from Mikey’s stress of not knowing what colour to chose*
Mikey// Dark blue, no wait royal blue!Thanks guys! Have fun performing tonight.

After interviewing the band I went to explore the NEW Star Wars exclusive tech from HP. I was taken through the finer details by one very content Scottish HP guy, he explained all the exclusive footage on one of these devices and the possibilities between each model. I truly fell head over heels in love with the HP Spectre – rose gold and black *jots down on Christmas list*. However there are so many options particularly for a hardcore Star Wars fan!

I then had a go at using the BB8 Mini droid challenge! I don’t think I’ve really giggled that much trying to navigate the device around an obstacle course. I crashed the thing so many times but operating this little thing was great fun – having said that I wouldn’t put me in charge of driving one!

After getting my picture taken with three legends, (sorry guys not Years & Years) ‘R2D2, CP30 and BB8, I found a spot to watch the band. All the HP Lounge competition winners had been let in and every one was anticipating the warm up act. All music from the HP Lounge is all connected to Universal Music, so when you get a HP device you can get exclusive listening time to all those artists part of that label. If you’re thinking that can’t be a lot for just one label, think again! Remember each major label has loads of sub labels full of amazing artists so trust me when I say you will never get bored!

Years & Years broke onto the stage flying through their most popular tunes and putting on awesome show for their screaming fans. Of course Mikey was there as he told me, in true style in his Jedi robes! Electric atmosphere and epic performance from the uber talented trio.

Big thanks to HP for inviting, huge thumbs up to Years & Years for having me and massive apology to BB8 mini droid … who I crashed quite a few times into those pillars on the obstacle course!

What do you think of the new Star Wars HP range? Would you buy a Star Wars specific laptop?

1 Comment

I will come back to this place, its huge and open, and have really tall ceilings. Wait staff was also pretty good. Bartender at Chicago venues were awesome and personable. I was really pleased with my party here. Ha! I highly recommend these guys.

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I'm Annie a fitness, travel and lifestyle blogger. UK based but on a quest to see the world I love a lot of things, but particularly, fitness, beauty, health and wellness. I enjoy taking part in triathlons and I'm currently studying to become a personal trainer. If you want to get in touch with me, please do, talesofanniebean@gmail.com.